Shows

In the trilogy The Sorrows of Belgium, consisting of the national tricolour Black/Yellow/Red, director Luk Perceval zooms in on three dark passages from Belgian history. The first part, Black, is a true record about one of the first Congolese travellers in history: the African-American William Henry Sheppard, who was called ‘the Black Livingstone’.

Part 1 of a trilogy about radical events in Belgian history.

William Sheppard travelled to Africa in February 1890 as a missionary for the Presbyterian Church. Together with his white travel companion Sam Lapsley, he embarked on a radical adventure in completely unknown territory, where he experienced one surprise after the other. Lapsley did not survive the mission, but Sheppard returned to America and from there, was one of the first to heavily criticise the abuses in the Congo.

Part 2 of the trilogy, Yellow, will deal with the collaboration with the German occupiers during the Second World War, while in Red, the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels will take centre stage. Both performances wille be shown in Internationaal Theater Amsterdam.

Luk Perceval (Lommel, 1957) is a Flemish actor and director. After is studies at the Koninklijk Vlaams Conservatorium in Antwerp, he got to work as an actor with the Koninklijke Nederlandse Schouwburg (KNS). He then founded, together with Guy Joosten, the Blauwe Maandag Compagnie (the BMC) in Gent, 1984. In 1998, Perceval founded Het Toneelhuis: a fusion between the Gent BMC and the Antwerp KNS. Since 2005, he has mainly been active in Germany: first as the resident director of the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz in Berlin, and as leading director with the Thalia theatre since 2009.

He won the Jan Oscar de Gruyter award in 1991, for his directing in the pieces Strange Interlude and De voader. In 1998, Perceval’s theatre pieces were awarded by various theatre critics. The play Ten Oorlog (1999) earned Tom lanoye and Perceval the Thalia award. The German version of the play Schlachten! Was selected for the prestigious Berlin Theatertreffen, and won the Innovations award there in 2000. In 2001, Peter Verhelst and Perceval won the Taalunie Toneelschrijfprijs for Aars!.

The young director Julien Gosselin is the next great promise of the French stage. Previously, his acclaimed performance Les Particules élémentaires and the spectacular theatre marathon 2666 have been performed in this theatre. Now we are bringing his latest performance to International Theater ...

The year of cancer is one of director Luk Perceval’s favourite novels. The balance between big emotions and banality, between tense expectations and daily burdens forms the basis of his reading. ‘If you don’t go and watch this, you are denying yourself happiness.’ - NRC *****

Tom Lanoye, a passionate performer and literary star, turned sixty on 27th August 2018. Because of that memorable event, a book with photographs and unpublished archival material was published, an exhibition was held in Ghent's Krook, the city library of Ghent, and he is touring for a full year...